Page 11 of Winter Wishes at Pennycress Inn

‘Nope. I hope that’s not a bad thing?’ He lifted a stack of tiny cardboard coffee cups and waved them in her direction. ‘I’ll have a constant supply of coffee samples for you to try.’

‘Haha, now I am glad we’re neighbours.’ She laughed as she signalled the space between their tables. ‘Just drag your stall a little more towards me so the samples are in easy reach, and I’ll happily be friends for life.’

Grinning, he held a finger in the air. ‘One moment, I might just be able to do better than that.’

‘Oh, really?’ What could be better than coffee samples on demand? Scarlett began hanging her range of mugs on a wooden mug tree, making sure to angle them so her designs were perfectly visible to any potential customers.

‘These…’ Rowan frowned as he rummaged through his wooden crate. ‘That’s strange. I’m sure I’d brought some cups with me.’

‘Ah, I hope they weren’t the ones I broke?’ Scarlett frowned.

‘Nope, I usually bring some to add to my display.’ He grimaced as he gave up and instead continued setting up the bags of ground coffee on his stall. ‘Sorry, we’ll have to make do with the little sample cups, unless we can find anyone with a key to the hall’s kitchen.’

‘Or else we could use these?’ Taking two of her own mugs from the plastic box, she held them up and grinned.

‘What? No, those are yours to sell.’ Leaving a pile of bags of ground coffee heaped in the centre of his stall, he took a step towards her and took one of the mugs, turning it in his hands as he looked at the detailed Christmas design. ‘Wow, these are beautiful. You drew these?’

Scarlett nodded, feeling her cheeks pink with the customary embarrassment she always felt when someone complimented her work. ‘I did. Well, I drew the original design, anyway. I got them printed onto the mugs.’

‘I can’t use these.’ Rowan held out the mug between them. ‘I’d be denting today’s profits for you.’

Holding her hand out, she pushed the mug back towards him and laughed. ‘Like I did to yours the other day when I merrily backed up to your coffee cart and smashed loads of cups. Nope, you can definitely use these. Besides, at this moment in time, the promise of a good coffee is worth more than the measly profits these two would bring in.’

Shaking his head slightly, he took the other mug she was holding out towards him and set them on his stall before pulling out four large flasks from the crate. ‘If you insist. Thank you. Now, I have four different coffees, which would like? They’re all slightly different, shall I read the descriptions out to you?’

‘No, don’t worry. I’m sure I can get through one of each before the day’s out.’ She grinned. After spending all morning packing her things to bring today, she’d only had one coffee, and she was both parched and in need of a caffeine pick-me-up.

‘Haha, challenge accepted. We’ll start with this one.’ Picking up one of the flasks, Rowan filled Scarlett’s mug before adding a dash of milk and passing it to her.

As she took the mug from him, she frowned as his fingers brushed against hers, hers tingling as she thought back to what Laura had said about him and their being perfect for each other. Shaking her head, she drew the mug towards her and wrapped her hands around the hot ceramic. Why had that felt weird? As he turned away, seemingly oblivious to the effect his touch had had on her, she looked down at her hand and frowned. It didn’t matter how kind and lovely he was. Or seemed to be. Tyler had been the same towards her, had wooed her, been caring, generous, had gone out of his way to be nice to her, and look how that had turned out.

Besides, Rowan hadn’t noticed anything. He hadn’t felt anything. She watched as he glanced across at her and smiled. Shaking her head, she placed her mug down on the table with a little more force than she’d intended and watched as a dribble of coffee ran down the side of the mug and seeped into the lilac fabric. Huh, that would be the perfect place for the cash box then.

Clearing her throat as she made her way around the front of the stall, she mumbled over her shoulder. ‘I’m just going to grab the rest of my stuff.’

7

Scarlett looked across the hall and squinted at the clock hung on the wall above a stall offering home-made jams and chutneys. She sighed. After a small flurry of customers when the doors had first opened, the last two hours had been dead and to add to the sense of desolation the stereo and sound system were seemingly locked inside the kitchen. And of that flurry of customers, the majority had made their way around the room sampling products on offer before leaving empty-handed. She’d sold precisely four Christmas cards, a coaster depicting a robin and two mugs printed with a wildlife scene. At this rate, she wouldn’t even make back the money she’d paid for the stall.

‘Another one jumping ship,’ Rowan called quietly across to her and tilted his head towards the woman who had introduced herself as Patricia on the stall selling knitted baby jumpers next to him.

‘I don’t blame her. It is pretty dire.’ Scarlett picked up her fresh coffee. That was one perk of having so few customers; Rowan still had plenty of coffee going spare to keep her topped up. Taking a long sip, she watched as the man selling the jams and chutneys, Stanley, made his way across the hall towards them. ‘It’s pretty quiet, isn’t it?’

‘It certainly is. It’s a shame as it’s normally quite a busy one. I haven’t seen either of you two around on the craft circuit. Are you new to the area or new to crafting?’ Stanley picked up one of Rowan’s coffee bags, turning it over to read the information printed on the back.

‘I’m just new to the area. I’ve been doing this gig for years now.’ Scarlett looked down at her stall. She’d always loved drawing and painting but after studying art at college she’d had to abandon her dream of going to continue her education and doing a fine art degree to earn money and get her own place as that was when her dad had announced he and her stepmum were moving to Scotland. It was fair enough too; they’d stuck around to support her through college, but it had still been a bit of a shock to say the least. That was when she’d perfected the balance of selling her designs at craft fairs and taking on a flexible job for a guaranteed income stream too.

‘It’s all new to me.’ Rowan poured Stanley a sample cup of the coffee he was perusing. ‘Here you go, mate. Have a try if you like.’

‘Thank you.’ Downing the coffee in one gulp, Stanley nodded his approval before continuing. ‘As I was saying, it’s normally busier than this. And there’s usually more stalls too.’

‘That’s right, it’s been packed out the last few years.’ Patricia strolled across to them as she stuffed a tiny knitted cardigan patterned with Christmas stars into a large plastic bag. ‘You know why it’s like this, though, don’t you?’

‘The storm, I assume.’ Stanley lowered his empty sample cup to the table before stroking his white beard.

Patricia shrugged. ‘That probably has a bit to do with it, yes, but the advertising has been atrocious this year. I only knew it was going ahead because I ran into Penny over there.’ Patricia nodded towards a stall covered in beautiful silver jewellery.

‘Why is that? I mean, why do you think it hasn’t been advertised enough?’ Scarlett asked.